IGCSE Marine activity 1.2- heat from the earths core

 I use for this version of the 1.2 experiment.

A hot plate
A Beaker
Salt water
Food Dye
Fresh water.
A funnel

I start by preparing a hypersaline solution of salt, water and food dye. This will make a dense liquid.

I pour fresh water into the beaker, and the using a funnel, place the denser coloured water at the bottom, creating to clear differented layers.

I then place the beaker in the hot plate, turn it on and observes what happens.

This is a model. The hot plate is a model for the hot core, the dense water is the mantle and the cool water on top is the crust.

You will start to see how the lower denser layer starts to move, and bubbles will rise. There is also a temperature gradient, as the top still is cool, while the bottom is clearly hot.

When using heat take care not to get burned.
Use oven mittens to move hot beakers
Only use beakes that can stand direct heat

here is the more traditional one from the book, with the same setup, but bits of coffee beans as an indicator

Main Index